Rail Network (Disruption)

Oliver Colvile Excerpts
Monday 5th January 2015

(9 years, 4 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord McLoughlin Portrait Mr McLoughlin
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I was saying as Secretary of State for Transport that I was very sorry for any inconvenience to passengers. Along with the chief executive of Network Rail, I have put in place measures to ensure that we learn from what went wrong in these incidents, which were clearly unacceptable. The point I would make to the hon. Gentleman is that when I made these points in the last Transport questions and in giving evidence to the Select Committee just before Christmas, nobody said that we were being over-ambitious.

Oliver Colvile Portrait Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Con)
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I thank my right hon. Friend for the clear announcement he has made today and add my thanks for the work done by Network Rail in Dawlish. Will he confirm that improvements to signalling down to my Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport constituency will deliver a more sustainable railway line that will get trains there much more quickly—in three hours—and that trains will arrive in Plymouth before 9 o’clock in the morning?

Lord McLoughlin Portrait Mr McLoughlin
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I congratulate my hon. Friend on the valiant campaign he has led to ensure that he gets faster train services to his constituency, pointing out how important they are for his city. I hope to be able to improve on his campaign so that he gets the services that are wanted for the constituency.